on 5/23/2023, 2:04 pm
The usually reliable Glenn Erickson was sufficiently flummoxed by this particular UK assortment of noir flotsam that he miscounted the number of films when he summarized them at the outset of his review!
The Indicator line repackages a number of films already released in the US for the British market, adding commentaries from the clique of gum-flappers who've turned this aspect of the "home video noir era" into a cottage industry.
For this group, Indicator has mined material from the 1949-53 period, all featuring big names in noir, but showcased in films that for various regions remained on the margins. Here's the lowdown:
ROPE OF SAND (1949)--Burt Lancaster, Paul Henreid
APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER (1950)--Alan Ladd
THE ENFORCER (1951)--Humphrey Bogart
BEWARE, MY LOVELY (1952)--Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan
JENNIFER (1953)--Ida Lupino, Howard Duff
Erickson's ratings for film top out at excellent, with gradations to very good, good plus, good, good minus (you can't get more diplomatic that that), and fair. (What, no fair plus or minus? C'mon, Glenn, we live and die on your precision!)*
For this group of films, two (THE ENFORCER, APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER) are graded as "excellent", two (ROPE OF SAND and BEWARE MY LOVELY) are graded good, and JENNIFER rates the tip-toe-y "good minus." If we were using Glenn's semi-diatonic/semi-chromatic scale, we'd place APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER at "very good plus," with THE ENFORCER at "very good", ROPE OF SAND at "good plus" (as opposed to "very good minus); the two Lupino films would grade out as follows: BEWARE at "good" and JENNIFER at "fair plus" (as opposed to "good minus"!!)
ROPE OF SAND, THE ENFORCER and APPOINTMENT WITH DANGER are available separately as blu-rays from Olive Films; the Lupino films are the ones that haven't gotten a US release previously (and, of course, since Indicator is a UK outfit, that means they still haven't).
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*Truth told, Glenn is one of the most experienced and astute reviewers to be found anywhere, so please don't take these jibes too seriously!
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